We all know menopause happens to women when they are around forty years old. When menopause occurs, a woman would have stopped producing eggs for over 12 months. They may also start to get physical symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, and a low sexual drive. Mentally, menopause can also cause a rise in anxiety or depression in women. While a lot of the times we see menopause happen like this, it may happen in women younger as well.
How to Know
If you are unsure if you are going through early menopause, there are some ways to help figure it out. Testing from a doctor usually isn’t necessary because a woman can usually tell. To start off, you may get irregular periods and other menopause symptoms that could happen here and there. During this time, this could be called perimenopause, and then once you have not had your period for 12 months, then it can be considered menopause. While it’s not normally tested, there are certain tests a doctor can do to ensure it is not from something else in the body.
Why Could it Happen
There can be many reasons why early menopause might occur, however, it can vary per person and sometimes be unknown. It could simply be from genetics if there are no other physical signs as to why early menopause started, it might have just been inherited.
Having early menopause could also be caused by your lifestyle. If you are a heavy smoker or overweight, it may lead to early menopause. Heavy smoking may cause women to start their menopause a few years earlier than most.
Another factor could be if you have an autoimmune disease like thyroid disease or arthritis. With these diseases, your body may think it is under attack constantly and the inflammation caused by that could cause your ovaries to shut down.
What are the Symptoms Before and During
Of course, leading up to early menopause you may start to get an irregular period cycle. However, you may also get periods with a strong flow, a weak flow, and periods that last longer than they should.
While going through early menopause, the symptoms can be quite similar to those of normal starting menopause. For example, hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, trouble sleeping, and changes in sexual desire. While all of these are considered normal while going through menopause, there can be some ways to remedy the effects if they are overwhelming.
How to Help
Early menopause can not be cured or reversed, but the effects that it causes you physically and mentally can be leveled out. There are many types of hormone therapy that can help menopause symptoms but they may be more invasive than you want. They can include a pill, shot, pellet, gel, or cream that is prescribed by your doctor to help level out your estrogen.
There are also natural ways to keep yourself healthy and balanced. They may not solve your symptoms, but they could help keep them in check. Getting a healthy diet and exercise can be more beneficial than you may realize to help your mental and physical health. Keeping a healthy social life and making sure to do things that make you happy and relax can also help with your mental health and keep yourself level.
While early menopause may not be common, it can happen to many women. Make sure to watch your body and listen to it to understand what you may be going through.